Hillary Clinton, left, is introduced during a campaign stop in Chicago on Wednesday after a poem was read by Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland, who was found dead in a Texas jail cell. | AP Photo

Clinton highlights gun violence, police brutality in Chicago

The presidential hopeful speaks to a largely African-American audience, hoping to strengthen support in a demographic group where she continues to far outpoll Bernie Sanders.

CHICAGO — Hillary Clinton worked to solidify her standing with the African-American community Wednesday at a campaign stop here in the city’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood.

Clinton’s remarks tapped into themes of gun violence and police misconduct — both of which have haunted the city, particularly in the past year. She also delivered a searing rebuke of Illinois’ Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, whom she chided for giving a budget address for 2017 while still not having a budget from 2016.

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The rally quickly took on a solemn tone as the mother of Sandra Bland — a black suburban Chicago woman who was found dead in her jail cell following a traffic stop in Texas — briefly teared up as she spoke of meeting privately with Clinton to talk about her daughter.

“Now this, I know to be true. I was one of those mothers who met with her and was able to make it through,” Geneva Reed Veal said, crying through her words. “She has a plan on gun violence that is like none other. … As Sandra Bland’s mother, I know a little bit of frustration.”

While the room appeared half-full, Clinton organizers insisted it was at capacity with some 400 people backing the Democrat, who is battling Bernie Sanders for the party’s presidential nomination. A cadre of local black ministers as well as Democratic U.S. Reps. Danny Davis and Robin Kelly, both of Illinois, spoke on Clinton’s behalf, holding up her work on health care and pay equity.

Clinton knew her audience. Chicago has had more than 365 shootings since the beginning of the year, and January saw murders skyrocket. Clinton singled out the names of local children who were killed by gun violence, including the late Hadiya Pendleton.

“Nothing is more precious than a child’s life. While we’re knocking down those barriers, we have to do what we can to protect our children” and some 33,000 others killed each year by guns, she said.

Clinton took on the Laquan McDonald police shooting, which has roiled the city since a dash-cam video’s release last November. Her fellow Democrat — Mayor Rahm Emanuel — was nowhere to be seen at the rally. Now a lightning rod among African-Americans, Emanuel has kept his distance from politicking as he rebuilds trust in the city.

"These stories cannot be ones that just provoke our emotions. They must lead us to action. They must motivate every one of us to take on these issues, reforming police practices and making it as hard as possible where people who get guns who shouldn’t have them in the first place,” Clinton said. “We owe it to the families of young men, like Laquan McDonald, and the other names we know all too well.”

Davis said Emanuel risked becoming a “distraction” should he have appeared beside Clinton here.

“I really think the mayor is so engaged and involved to try to manage the affairs in the city and also to try to work on the image of the city relative to what occurred after Laquan McDonald,” Davis told POLITICO. “I don’t think anyone would want a distraction from what is being accomplished … here at this rally for Hillary. I think it’s reinforcement, and it’s an attempt to reinforce a relationship with the African-American community. Chicago is one of the best places in the world to do that.

Clinton skewered Rauner, saying he had “refused to take part” in negotiations with Democrats unless his turnaround agenda is advanced.

“We have a governor who, I hear, is giving his budget address today," she said. "This is material for some kind of sitcom. Because he’ll be speaking without a budget” from 2016.

“His plan would turn Illinois around, all right, all the way back to the robber barons of the 19th century,” Clinton said. She criticized the governor, laying the blame on the Republican for cuts to drug addiction programs as well as to higher education. For his part, Rauner has said he was willing to negotiate with Democrats but would not raise taxes without changes that would boost business and deplete union power.

The Rauner administration had a sharp response to Clinton's criticisms, referencing big fees she's collected for speaking engagements -- including to the private equity firm he helped found -- GTCR.

"Quite ironic coming from someone who cashed a $280,000 check for a paid speech to GTCR less than two years ago," Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said of Clinton's Wednesday remarks.

Clinton ticked off reasons why President Barack Obama was well within his rights to nominate a successor to late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Clinton cited precedent and said the Constitution is clear. She called Republican opposition to the move politically motivated.

“This is pure, naked hostility, and opposition to the president of the United States,” said Clinton, drawing big cheers from the crowd.